(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endless photoreceptor belt for use in a recording device using an electrophotographic technique such as a printer, facsimile and copying machine. The present invention also relates to a recording device using such an endless photoreceptor belt.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In a recording device such as printer, facsimile and copying machine using an electrophotographic technique, a photoreceptor layer for forming a latent image is supported by a mechanical carrier such as a drum having an aluminum tube as a base material, or an endless belt having a resin film base.
In the recording devices as recited above, the photoreceptor layer is first exposed to light by using an erasing lamp to remove all the electric charge formed by the previous steps and remaining on the photoreceptor layer, followed by provision with uniform electric charge by using corona discharge or charge roll. Subsequently, light from a semiconductor laser (LD) or a light emitting diode (LED) is irradiated onto the photoreceptor layer to generate a charge distribution profile on the photoreceptor layer based on the image data supplied to the recording device. The toner supplied onto the surface of the photoreceptor layer is attracted onto the electric charge on the photoreceptor layer for toner development. The toner attracted onto the photoreceptor layer is then transferred to a recording sheet directly or indirectly, i.e., through an intermediate transferring medium, to form an image based on the image data.
In the recording device using the electrophotographic technique, a photoreceptor layer is iteratively subjected to an electrical or thermal stress by the imaging operation and eventually degraded thereby. As a result, the photoreceptor drum or belt is regularly replaced at a suitable period of time. A new photoreceptor belt, for example, stored for this purpose has a protective film for protecting the photoreceptor layer against a damage such as scratch or optical fatigue (degradation) during the storage.
In a conventional photoreceptor belt, when the operator removes the protective film from the photoreceptor belt, the surface of the photoreceptor layer is sometimes damaged by scratch inadvertently generated by the operator or optical fatigue. Even if the surface of the photoreceptor layer has only a small damage, the quality of the resultant image is degraded significantly. It is therefore important to prevent the damage occurring on the photoreceptor layer during the removal of the protective film, as well as protecting the photoreceptor layer during the storage of the photoreceptor belt against dust or external light such as from sun or room illumination.
Patent Publication JP-A-64(1989)-74573 or JP-A-64-74578 proposes a cartridge type photoreceptor belt, which has a cartridge for receiving a photoreceptor belt therein and is replaced together with the photoreceptor belt in a recording device. This is effective for the operator to replace the photoreceptor with ease. However, the cartridge discarded in each replacement raises the cost of the photoreceptor belt and involves an environmental problem.